Made up of members from Ken Vandermark's Resonance Ensemble, Inner Ear takes much of the Chicago sax man's ethics and expands on it for this stellar debut, Breathing Steam. The reduced size of the group (a quartet) allows the themes from Resonance to--as the title suggests--breath. There is a bit more experimentation as well as harmonic resilience throughout this session.
There's no leader here, so each musician gets an opportunity to stretch their chords as only the burst energy that is the opener, "Lonely Consumer." Trzaska and Daisy tear through notes in counterpoint fashion. It's a duel of juxtapositions, with Trzaska screeching into heavens; while Daisy adds staccato patterns all around. It's beautifully laid out. Vandermark would be very happy. "Monster Confession" is dark and loose. The group move in various haunting directions with Homlander's tuba presenting some ominous sounds and then folding into some great improvised work by Daisy and Swell.
"For Our Mothers" has soft avant-blues texture to it. The quartet moves slowly through some dark passages with Trzaska portraying almost a funeral-like tone. Swell and Homlander add a billowing quality to this offering that quietly fades into the distance just as it began.
Breathing Steam might be just a one-off for these members of the larger Resonance Ensemble but its a rich and organic experience that is many times over worth listening and looking out for. Sometimes the sum is just as good and significant as the whole. Inner Ear is rewarding stuff.
Known to most music fans for his excellent soundtrack work on The Last Emperor, The Sheltering Sky and Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence among others, Ryuichi Sakamoto has been a prominent and revered figure in music for almost forty years.
Hopefully some will remember him from his first outfit, the late 70s/80s electronic group, Yellow Magic Orchestra (essentially the Japanese version of Kraftwerk). If not, you may be familiar through collaborations with Iggy Pop, Thomas Dolby, David Sylvian and more recently some outstanding releases with electronic sound sculpture, Christian Fennesz.
But what most people don't always grab onto is, Sakamoto's emotionally powerful delivery at one single instrument--the piano. He is known for his masterful works electronically but in the last decade or so he has shifted between various styles. Delving into Brazilian themes with Jaques Morelenbaum or the aforementioned electronic work with Fennesz but at the heart it's still about Sakamoto's piano. His style is more angular yet remote. It has more to do with Debussy and Satie, than Monk and Jarrett.
His recent double release Playing The Piano/Out Of Noise is one of the best performances I have heard from Sakamoto in over a decade. This is why you fall in love with music. On Playing The Piano, he showers you with potent themes like the title piece to The Sheltering Sky. It rises and descends with grace and beauty that will cause both joy and despair all in the short span of minutes. "Amore" exudes the classic love/lost theme and might set forth those images of Debussy's writing in some listeners.
On one of Sakamoto's oldest pieces "A Thousand Knives" (in addition to "Tibetan Dance") is exquisite. Sakamoto's free flowing movement does cross both cinematic and jazz territories with great ease and effectiveness. It's always been a playful tune but its just connects more when heard as a singular instrument piece. Wonderful.
With Out Of Noise, Sakamoto starts off in the same vein with pleasant, unassuming numbers led by the tranquil and hypnotic, "Hibari." This calm aesthetic soon gives way to a more dynamic atmospheric tone on "Still Life" and "In Red" in which he balances both a delicate touch on piano with decomposing chords delivered by collaborators Fretwork and Fennsez, respectively. "Firewater" is a mountain of a piece that is as haunting as it is vast, like staring into a red sunset. Sakamoto produces a wall of sound that quickly washes over you. Not dissimilar to Robin Guthrie and Harold Budd actually.
"Composition 0919" is Sakamoto entering Glass/Reich-like territory with fast paced, repetitious patterns that stop/start and move from channel to channel. It's intoxicating and challenging. But that's what Sakamoto has always done. The tempo shifts quickly and the harmonics resonate with wonder and sweet agility. It's a solid way to close out the album and let the listner know that there's more to music than just the chords. This is thinking music for thinking people.
Playing The Piano/Out Of Noise are two of the best Sakamoto albums you are going to find in a vast catalog that I can't even count. It's also a great introduction to an amazing composer and performer. So if you haven't listened to Ryuichi Sakamoto before...now's a good time to start.
The Limbo Ensemble Plebiscitu (AudioTong; 2011) Paulo Chagas (clarinet, field recording, electronics) Karl Waugh (violin) Fernado Simoes (trombone) Bruno Duplant (bass) Travis Johnson (cello) Quincas Moreira (cello) Paulo Durate (guitar) Thomas Olsson (guitar) Massimo Magee (trumpet)
Based on a series of individually recorded musicians combined with his own instrumentation, Paulo Chagas has constructed a unique and beautiful document in Plebiscitu. The music one hears lies on a different plane. In the same vein as recent minimalistic chamber music by Arszyn, Robert Kusiolek and even mid-period Kronos Quartet, Chagas probes and searches for sounds that have incongruity at heart but provide a sense of grey beauty.
The water atmospherics of "The Forgotten Echo" is wrapped and drenched in Chagas' clarinet and haunting string movements from Duplant and Waugh. "The Naked Ballerina" offers a small bit of Mideastern flavour while also exploring some interested soundscapes provided by Durate's guitar and Moreira's cello. There's a point very late in the piece where all the instruments rise in an extended crescendo that is just magnificent.
"Cherry Pits" sees Chagas taking up the oboe, with Duplant providing some very cool percussion. It's all improvised and has some humorous moments sprinkled across various sections. The double cello work on the closing number "The Book of Rejected Souls" is deep and powerful. Adding in Chagas' clarinet and field sounds sends the listener off with haunting after-effects.
I really loved taking the adventure with Plebiscitu. Paulo Chagas has done a terrific job of combining a mashup of sorts through various individual pieces put together into a harmonically dense chamber. Excellent stuff.
Doug Webb (sax) Swing Shift (Posi-Tone Records; 2011) Gerry Gibbs (drums) Stanley Carke (bass) Larry Goldings (piano) Joe Bagg (piano) Mahesh Batasooriya (piano)
The most important things about any group that has been/recorded together for long period of time is consistency and chemistry. In the case of Doug Webb, this consistency and chemistry came of the course of one long day which has given birth to three recordings including his latest, Swing Shift. These recordings represent a number of snapshots over those hours with various piano players. But the one constant is Webb's amazing direction and the groups ability to hold strong and sound blisteringly beauty on every piece.
Opening this set with brilliance, Webb features Larry Goldings on piano performing on the Mal Waldron classic, "Soul Eyes." It's a nice and uptempo version with a lot of a muscle and vitality. Webb's sound is bold and jumps out and takes hold. The connection the trio of Gibbs, Webb and Clarke have with each pianist throughout these sessions is amazing. Goldings playing, particularly towards the middle of the piece is like an elegant tap dancer.
While the opening minutes of the 22 minute epic, "Patagonia Suite" (written by Webb and Clarke)can be compared to Coltrane as far as performance, the material expands from that theme to Webb's own vision very quickly. The opening movement flies at a frenzy. Batasooriya delivers a resounding performance as he challenges the trio and they respond with crisp versatility. The second movement sees each member moving through improvised solos with Gibbs expressing himself through crazy timing that makes the piece more adventurous than it already is.
Webb offers a sense of spirituality as the "Patagonia Suite" moves into its middle section, which does feel like late period Coltrane but its extremely effective. The interaction between Clarke and Webb is fantastic. This is probably the most exciting I've heard Clarke in years. "Patagonia Suite" later resettles into a kind of hard bop mode as it travels towards its conclusion; including quiet but rich solos from Clarke and Batasooriya.
"Apodemia," another piece written by Webb and Clarke is a bright conclusion to the session. Joe Bagg sits in on piano. The band plays off Webb's vibrant yet cool performance. This has a nice live feeling to it. I'm really impressed with Webb's performances and writing throughout Swing Shift. "Apodemia," while based in the hard bop mold has a solid sense of modernism delivered by the musicians. Clarke adds a little bit of the funky groove for which he is known. Webb allows the band to really stretch on this piece. It's a relaxed, diverse and romantic all at once.
Webb's wild all-day session from four years ago still bears some excitingly fresh fruit. Let's hope there's more in the vault to come. Doug Webb has produced a superb bit of work with Swing Shift. If you've never listened to him before, this is definitely a disc worth seeking out.
